1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic education systems and methods and, more particularly, to a computer network-enabled education system and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various methods of teaching have been proposed and/or implemented over the years. Beginning in the early 1960's an educator, Fred Glancy, Jr. took many of the components in education that were successful, along with research from around the world, and assembled a new program for public education. The program was given local, state and international awards and was named the Glancy Educational Method (GEM). Some of the developments in GEM that started this movement included recognition of varied learning styles, learning disabilities, computerized Individual Learning Plans (ILP), computerized Individualized Educational Plans (IEP), mainstreaming of all special education students into a traditional school system, and the application of a computerized learning template with educational methods to teach according to the learning template.
The philosophy behind GEM is that every human being is comprised of a unique blend of learning/developmental abilities and limitations. Each person learns, develops and grows differently as each person is a composite of learning abilities drawn from the basic motor, visual, language concepts and auditory characteristics and experiences of their world. A person's learning pattern is made up of a physical, emotional, environmental, sensory, genetic, spiritual and developmental set of interrelated attributes. Each person or student thus has his or her own unique attributes based on the various experiences and characteristics noted above that essentially defines the individual and his or her learning characteristics.
When a student's learning characteristics are understood, a style or manner of instruction that best fits the student's mechanism of learning can be ascertained and applied in any environment. When we know and teach each person as an individual in accordance with the person's learning characteristics, we then begin to shape more efficiently the operations of teaching and administration. The GEM thesis for all education applies this concept to adapt a separate teaching style that reaches each person individually in accordance with that person's learning characteristics. When we can accomplish that goal, it follows that true learning takes place. Some proven advantages to this approach include teacher fulfillment, parent satisfaction, and administrative efficiency.
Under GEM, individualizing the learning process yields a continuing positive educational experience for the student and the teacher. This can occur without special teacher training, without slighting the needs or expectations of any child in the classroom, and without long, extra hours of preparation. The highlights of GEM include: a) teaching each student as an individual and a whole human being; b) labeling no child as retarded, deaf, blind, etc., as each person would be taught through the way they learn; c) screening and individualizing instruction for all students in or out of the regular classroom; d) providing precise information, materials, and systematic recording procedures; e) backing up each teacher with information and resource support necessary for individualizing instruction without significant additional teacher training; and f) doing all of these without demanding excessive preparation time out of the classroom.
The above GEM goals and attributes were met and implemented with technology existing at the time of development, namely hand-written or oral teacher to student teaching and evaluating/testing with the aid of books, manuals, and other paper-based materials. Since GEM was developed in the 1960's albeit refined in the 1970's, it does not take advantage of present computer technology both as to its enhancement and implementation. With the advances of technology and voluminous addition of information constantly streaming into our lives, and the need for students to understand, assimilate, and/or learn the vast amount of material, there is a need for an update of GEM in accordance with present technology. Particularly, there is a need to provide learning material utilizing computers.
While not the total implementation of GEM, a learning management system for use by microcomputers was marketed in 1987 by Insight Unlimited, Inc. of West Lafayette, Ind. The Insight Learning Management System (ILMS) was menu-driven or command-driven software that tested a student's learning abilities and created a user profile based thereon to present information from a static database of activities/lessons, tests and remediations each of which was in a pre-determined and unchangeable format for presentation. A student's progress could be tracked by generated customizable reports. Individualized education and learning plans were formulated by the software. The database/software also has import and export capabilities.
A learning system that also utilizes computers is U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,863 issued to Sloane, et. al on Sep. 29, 1998 entitled “Interactive Behavior Modification System,” wherein there is described a Multimedia Behavior Modification System (MBMS) that utilizes computers for presenting or teaching the material. The MBMS includes courseware for a particular topic and delivers the courseware over a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or the internet. The coursework includes a selectable progression of modules including dynamic introductory modules leading to a combination of education modules. User selectable links to primary learning modules is provided in a menu. A tracking module tracks user decisions and other characteristics and alters the program content accordingly.
Another computer learning system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,810,605 and 5,904,485 issued to Siefert on Sep. 22, 1998 entitled “Computerized Repositories Applied to Education,” and on May 18, 1999 entitled “Automated Lesson Selection and Examination in Computer-Assisted Education” respectively. These related patents disclose a system for computer assisted education in which a school curriculum is stored in computer repositories. A learning profile is maintained for every student which indicates the capabilities, preferred learning style, and progress of the student. Based on the profile, the program selects proper lessons, administers examinations, updates the profile, and links the student with a subject matter expert when necessary. The system also establishes a video conference between the student and faculty member or other individual when necessary.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,049 issued to Sonnenfeld on Aug. 29, 2000 and entitled “Computer Network Based Testing System” there is disclosed an automated testing system that allows for a hierarchical testing scheme. Independent building blocks (i.e. logical units) contain parameters that determine its functionality and implementation. Each building block also contains information about how it relates to the other building blocks. Each logical unit or section has a set of parameters that define, for example, an interrelation of that section with other sections, grading instructions, adaptive aspects, allowable timing, sequencing and repetition, security and randomization. The tests are provided over the Internet utilizing HTML as a web page format. This allows the system to be provided over the Internet using standard web browsers. Sonnenfeld further teaches that since the system preferably resides on the Internet, the system allows the test designer and test taker to give questions based on the content of another web site.
The above-referenced systems utilize computers that may be networked to meet learning/educational needs of a user. The two above-identified Siefert patents disclose the use of learning profiles to select computer stored, static lessons for a student based on the student's profile. Both types of systems, however, are deficient in flexibility and/or dynamic use of current technology. Moreover, while Sonnenfeld teaches the use of the Internet to provide a test to a user and, particularly, is able to test a user about the content of a particular Internet page, Sonnenfeld does not provide content from the Internet that is correlated to the learning proclivities of a user and/or with respect to a particular topic and/or location in a learning chain.
What is therefore needed in view of the above, in addition to other non-mentioned particulars, is a system and/or method that provides correlated educational material to a user that is obtained from existing content gathered from the Internet in a manner to accommodate the learning preferences and/or proclivities of the user.